1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a gas stove for cooking food with at least one gas burner and a gas cooktop for cooking food with at least one gas burner.
2. Background Information
A conventional gas cooking appliance will incorporate a cooktop which is generally formed of a glass or glass ceramic. The cooktop is provided with an opening for receiving a gas operated burner. More specifically, the gas burner projects through the cooktop and is typically rigidly secured to a chassis of the appliance and either fixedly or loosely secured to the cooktop. Whether a rigid or a loose connection is present, some type of sealing arrangement is often provided between the cooktop and the gas burner in order to seal the opening so as to enhance the cleanability of the overall appliance.
Other known gas appliances incorporate ceramic based cooktops, e.g., ceramic and glass-ceramic cooktops. Due to material characteristic limitations, the interior panel of such a ceramic based cooktop must be free to flex during use of the appliance. For at least this reason, either a loose connection or no connection at all is generally provided between a gas burner and a ceramic based cooktop, while a rigid connection is utilized between the gas burner and the appliance chassis. With such an arrangement, since the gas burner must still project through an opening in the cooktop, it is extremely difficult to provide an extremely effective seal around the burner unit.
Gas appliances, and in particular cooktops having modular, plug-in cooking units are known and commercially available. Typically, these cooktops have two or more compartments into which modular cooking cartridges are inserted. For example, one cooktop may include a surface burner cartridge disposed in one compartment and a grilling cartridge disposed in another. compartment.
For ease of manufacturing, connections for the operation of the modular cooking cartridges are permanently installed in the gas appliance. The connections are disposed in the gas appliances so as to facilitate easy connection to a modular cooking unit and typically include identical gas outlets for each compartment for providing gas to the modular cooking cartridges. Thus, the manufacturer can manufacture standardized modular cooking cartridges and can more economically provide a wider variety of gas appliances as demanded by consumers.
Also, typically, the.connections in the gas appliance include a gas orifice that is standardized to provide a gas flow rate suitable for surface burner units. Some modular cooking cartridges, such as grilling cartridges, however, require a lower gas flow rate than surface burner cartridges, and will not function properly at the higher gas flow rates. Thus, gas flow rate incompatibility presents a problem when installing, for example, a grilling cartridge into a standardized modular cooktop.
In conventional modular cooktops, this incompatibility problem is solved by removing the standard orifice and changing it to an orifice that matches the gas flow rate requirement of the cooking cartridge to be installed. This is inconvenient and undesirably wasteful in terms of labor and material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,662 issued to Taplan et al. on Mar. 7, 2000, relates to a cooktop apparatus wherein a cooktop panel is seated in a frame and is made of glass ceramic, glass or ceramic. The cooktop panel has a cutout for accommodating a gas burner in the cooktop panel. A component assembly holds the gas burner in the cooktop panel and the component assembly includes a collar annularly overlapping a portion of the panel in the region of the cutout. The collar has an inner region defining an edge which, in turn, defines a first abutment for engaging the gas burner. A resilient metal element is attached to the gas burner and extends outwardly from the gas burner to engage the panel on the lower side thereof. The lower side of the panel defines a second abutment against which-the resilient metal element applies a force to hold the gas burner on the panel via the collar and the resilient metal element. A seal is sandwiched and clamped between the collar and the panel thereby preventing any spillage from reaching the frame through the cutout.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,708 issued to Arntz et al. on Jan. 16, 2001, relates to a gas burner mounting assembly which includes a gas injector having a main body portion positioned between a chassis member of a gas cooking appliance and a ceramic based cooktop of the appliance. The gas injector also includes an upper body portion which extends through an aperture formed in the cooktop. A burner retention bracket is interposed between the main body portion of the gas injector and an underside of the cooktop. A resilient support preferably acts between the gas injector and the cooktop, although no rigid attachment is made between these elements. The gas injector is mechanically, fixedly secured to the cooktop in order to allow the gas injector to flex with the cooktop.
Gas cooktops, which are also called hob tops, typically have a cover that is made of thermally or chemically tempered soda lime glass. This glass has the characteristic that a maximum temperature limit must be observed if it is to retain its temper and thus retain a significantly better resistance to mechanical and thermal loads, and is therefore not destroyed during the operation of the cooktop.
In practice, however, it has been determined that the maximum allowable temperature is exceeded in certain cooking situations. Tests on commercial units have thereby shown that the allowable maximum temperature that may be applied to the glass for a short period of time was exceeded by up to 20%.
This overheating can be prevented by selecting the diameter of the borings in the glass covers that hold the gas burners as large as possible, and by placing a sheet metal pan underneath them. The edge of the boring is also enclosed by a collar.
However, this principle can only be used up to a certain diameter of the boring, and in unusual cooking situations, e.g. if a pot or pan boils dry or if a very large pot is placed over two burners, it cannot prevent the maximum allowable temperature from being exceeded, if only for a short time.
The problems are similar or analogous if the cover of the gas cooktop is made of another temperature-limited material such as glass ceramic or plastic.
The object of the invention is to realize a cooktop of the type described above so that the maximum temperatures at which the respective cover material can be used are not exceeded.
It is also an object of the invention to realize a gas stove having at least one burner or a gas cooktop having at least one burner in which the plate adjacent the corresponding cutout portion is protected so as to retain its strength and resiliency.
The invention teaches that this object can be accomplished by a stove for cooking food, said stove comprising: a stove body; said stove body comprising a base and a top; said top comprising a cooktop; said cooktop comprising a plate having a top and a bottom; said plate comprising a cutout portion; at least one heating arrangement to cook food; said at least one heating arrangement being disposed at said cutout portion of said plate; said at least one heating arrangement comprising a device to receive a bottom of a cooking utensil to cook food; a layer; said layer being disposed on said top of said plate and being disposed substantially adjacent said cutout portion; at least a portion of said layer being disposed at each said at least one heating arrangement and being configured to reflect heat produced from its corresponding heating arrangement and a cooking utensil disposed on its corresponding device to receive a bottom of a cooking utensil; said layer comprising at least a portion being disposed, configured, and dimensioned to minimize overheating of said plate at least under said layer by being configured to reflect heat emitted from at least one of: said at least one heating arrangement and an overheated cooking utensil; said at least one heating arrangement comprising a gas burner; said cutout portion being disposed about said gas burner; at least one conduit to supply gas to said gas burner to heat a cooking utensil to cook food; and at least one valve to control the supply of gas to said gas burner of said stove.
The invention also teaches a stove, wherein: said layer comprises a layer at least partially covering said plate.
The invention further teaches a stove, wherein: said layer comprises a layer substantially fully covering said top of said plate.
The invention still further teaches a stove, wherein: said layer comprises a first layer disposed on said top of said plate; and further comprising: a second layer disposed between said first layer and said plate; said second layer comprising a non-glare material to minimize reflection of light.
The invention also broadly teaches a stove for cooking food, said stove comprising: a stove body; said stove body comprising a base and a top; said top comprising a cooktop; said cooktop comprising a plate having a top and a bottom; said plate comprising a glass; said plate comprising a cutout portion; at least one heating arrangement to cook food; said at least one heating arrangement being disposed at said cutout portion of said plate; said at least one heating arrangement comprising a device to receive a bottom of a cooking utensil to cook food; a layer; said layer being disposed on said top of said plate and being disposed substantially adjacent said cutout portion; at least a portion of said layer being disposed at each said at least one heating arrangement and being configured to reflect heat produced from its corresponding heating arrangement and a cooking utensil disposed on its corresponding device to receive a bottom of a cooking utensil; said layer comprising at least a portion being disposed, configured, and dimensioned to minimize overheating of said plate at least under said layer by being configured to reflect heat emitted from at least one of: said at least one heating arrangement and an overheated cooking utensil; said at least one heating arrangement comprising a gas burner; said cutout portion being disposed about said gas burner; at least one conduit to supply gas to said gas burner to heat a cooking utensil to cook food; and at least one valve to control the supply of gas to said gas burner of said stove.
Another feature of the invention resides broadly in a stove, wherein: said layer comprises a layer at least partially covering said plate at least immediately about said cutout.
Yet another feature of the invention resides broadly in a stove, wherein: said layer comprises a first layer disposed on said top of said plate; and further comprising: a second layer disposed between said first layer and said plate; said second layer comprising a non-glare material to minimize reflection of light.
Still another feature of the invention resides broadly in a stove, wherein: said layer is disposed in a predetermined pattern; said pattern having at least one portion that is colored.
A further feature of the invention resides broadly in a stove, wherein: said plate comprises at least one of: a thermally tempered soda lime glass plate, a chemically tempered soda lime glass plate, a borosilicate glass plate, a non-transparent plastic plate, and a glass ceramic plate.
Another feature of the invention resides broadly in a stove, wherein: said layer comprises a layer substantially fully covering said top of said plate.
The invention further teaches a cooktop for cooking food, said cooktop comprising: a plate having a top and a bottom; at least one heating arrangement; said plate comprising a cutout portion; a layer; said layer being disposed on said top of said plate and being disposed about said cutout portion; at least one heating arrangement to cook food; said at least one heating arrangement being disposed at said cutout portion of said plate; said at least one heating arrangement comprising a device to receive a bottom of a cooking utensil to cook food; said layer being disposed on said top of said plate and being disposed about said cutout portion; at least a portion of said layer being disposed at each said at least one heating arrangement and being configured to reflect heat produced from its corresponding heating arrangement and a cooking utensil disposed on its corresponding device to receive a bottom of a cooking utensil; said layer comprising at least a portion being disposed, configured, and dimensioned to minimize overheating of said plate at least under said layer by being configured to reflect heat emitted from at least one of: said at least one heating arrangement and an overheated cooking utensil; said at least one heating arrangement comprising a gas burner; and said cutout portion being disposed about said gas burner of said cooktop.
Still another feature of the invention resides broadly in a cooktop, wherein: said plate comprises at least one of: a thermally tempered soda lime glass plate, a chemically tempered soda lime glass plate, a borosilicate glass plate, a non-transparent plastic plate, and a glass ceramic plate.
A further feature of the invention resides broadly in a cooktop, wherein: said layer comprises a layer at least partially covering said plate at least adjacent said cutout.
Another feature of the invention resides broadly in a cooktop, wherein: said layer comprises a layer substantially fully covering said top of said plate.
Yet another feature of the invention resides broadly in a cooktop, wherein: said layer comprises a first layer disposed on said top of said plate; and further comprising: a second layer adjacent said first layer; said second layer comprising a non-glare material to minimize.
Still another feature of the invention resides broadly in a cooktop, wherein: said second layer comprises a material to minimize diffusion of incident light.
A further feature of the invention resides broadly in a cooktop, wherein: said first layer is disposed in a predetermined pattern; said pattern having at least one portion that is pigmented.
Another feature of the invention resides broadly in a cooktop comprising a hob top.
On a cooktop that has at least one atmospheric gas burner that is located in a boring of a plate-shaped cover that is made of temperature-limited material, the invention teaches that a heat-reflecting surface is applied only to the upper side of the cover plate.
As a result of the realization of the cooktop as taught by the invention, it is possible to reduce and/or to limit the temperatures that occur in the cooktop cover plate under extraordinary cooking situations so that the maximum allowable short-term temperature is not exceeded, as a result of which unsafe excess temperatures are prevented. The measures claimed by the invention therefore contribute to increased operating safety. The diameter of the borings can also be kept small, and the burners used can be relatively flat, i.e. relatively low, because the manufacturer""s design freedom is increased.
In one realization of the invention, the cooktop is realized so that the cover plate is formed by a thermally or chemically tempered soda lime glass plate. The glass cover plate is typically printed without color on the reverse side, so that it is not transparent, and is subsequen tly thermally tempered. A decorative printing can also be applied.
The measures taught by the invention make it possible not to exceed the short-term allowable maximum temperature for this glass, and thus for the glass plate to retain over its guaranteed life a sufficient temper which is typically approximately 80% of the original temper, because the maximum allowable temperatures reduce the temper by approximately 20%.
The situation is similar if, as taught by one alternative configuration of the invention, the cover plate is formed by a printed and optionally decorated plate made of borosilicate glass.
The cover that forms the cooking surface can theoretically also be made of plastic. The temperature at which this material can be used is also limited.
The cover plate can also be formed by a glass ceramic plate. In this case, a particularly major concern is the thermal protection of the temperature-sensitive electric components that are typically located underneath the glass ceramic plate.
In one realization of the invention, the coating is colored. The coating can be dark, for example, thereby guaranteeing the aesthetically necessary non-transparency of the cover plate, so that the interior of the cooktop is concealed. The cover can also be given a color that coordinates with the design of the respective kitchen, in which case a decorative coating can also be advantageously applied.
In an additional configuration of the invention, the entire surface of the glass plate can theoretically be coated. The coating can be manufactured and applied easily.
To achieve the effects claimed by the invention, however, it is sufficient if appropriate templates are used during the coating process to coat only the areas of the cover plate that are subject to severe thermal-stresses.
The above-discussed embodiments of the present invention will be described further hereinbelow. When the word xe2x80x9cinventionxe2x80x9d is used in this specification, the word xe2x80x9cinventionxe2x80x9d includes xe2x80x9cinventionsxe2x80x9d, that is the plural of xe2x80x9cinventionxe2x80x9d. By stating xe2x80x9cinventionxe2x80x9d, the Applicant does not in any way admit that the present application does not include more than one patentably and non-obviously distinct invention, and maintains that this application may include more than one patentably and non-obviously distinct invention. The Applicant hereby asserts that the disclosure of this application may include more than one invention, and, in the event that there is more than one invention, that these inventions may be patentable and non-obvious one with respect to the other.